Jon Lester, Kevin Youkilis end Red Sox losing streak

Now mind you, considering the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays, 1-0, to snap a five-game losing streak, that hardly registers a blip on the bad-news scale.

Now, the good news: Lester finally looked like the pitcher the Red Sox hoped he would be all along. And in this game, he had to be.

“Anytime you go up against a pitcher like (Roy) Halladay, you know it’s going to be a long night,” Lester said.

Howie Mandel should deal the way Lester and Halladay did on this night, but on this night, Lester walked away with the winning suitcase.

Lester made quick work of the Blue Jays all night. The problem was that Halladay made equally quick work of the Red Sox.

Until the ninth inning anyway when the Sox staged a two-out rally and Kevin Youkilis knocked in the winning run with a single.

But this night belonged to Lester. He worked quickly, he worked effectively, and he worked powerfully.

For eight innings, he held the Blue Jays to no runs on just one hit, a line drive single by Lyle Overbay just over second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s head in the fifth inning. He walked four, struck out six, and threw only 97 pitches.

The eight innings matches his career high, accomplished last July against Kansas City, but it’s hard to believe he pitched any better that night.

“He threw strikes,” said Youkilis. “Jon has a lot of potential in his game, and he’s got movement on his pitches. The biggest thing for him is to get up on the mound, get the sign and throw strikes. Sometimes he tries to nibble on the corners, and that’s not effective for Jon. He’s a hard-throwing lefty. He has too good a stuff to nibble.”

Tuesday night’s Lester hardly looked like the Lester of his previous six starts. In those games, he never went longer than 62/3 innings and he went past six innings in just two games. In his last two starts, he gave up 10 and nine hits and carried a 1-2 record with a 5.40 ERA into the game.

But on this night, he threw all his pitches for strikes and never compounded his problems by following walks with more walks. The Blue Jays never got a runner to second base against him, and only two outs reached the outfield.

“There were times after the (previous) games where I started to doubt myself, but coming in and talking to Tek and (pitching coach) John Farrell there were a lot of positives,” Lester said. “There were a lot of strides in the right direction. We just had to keep working and keep grinding.

“It’s the first month; it’s April. I’d rather start out slow and finish strong than come out 6-0 and have a zero ERA and do terrible in September. It’s a long season, and you just have to keep going up and down the roller coaster and hopefully the hills aren’t too steep each way.”

Of the five runners Lester allowed, three came with two outs. The other two were wiped out by double plays.

“The thing that Jon did so well tonight, he threw a lot of first-pitch strikes,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “When he did walk somebody, he got right back down in the bottom of the zone and got a double-play ball. He didn’t let it carry over to the next hitter.”

Lester didn’t come out for the ninth inning – Francona said the Jays had righties coming up and he had a well-rested Jonathan Papelbon ready in the bullpen. But that strategy almost backfired. With two outs, Scott Rolen doubled to left center and Vernon Wells followed with a shot that appeared headed toward center field.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia, however, took one step to his right and lunged for the ball, grabbing it and throwing Wells out at first by plenty. The play was reminiscent of the play he made to preserve Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter last September.

“I just tried to get to it and keep it in the infield,” he said. “I was fortunate to catch it and get an out. It was kind of a big play. Anybody’s diving for any ball in that situation.”

“He just wills himself to make plays,” said Francona. “I know you have to have talent, but the will that he has is unbelievable. It’s nice to have him on your side.”

That kept the score, 0-0, but that would change moments later. With two outs, David Ortiz walked and went to second when Manny Ramirez dropped a single into center field. He scored the game’s only run when Youkilis lined a single into center to score Ortiz.

The win went to Papelbon, but the winning effort went to Lester. It’s not everyday a 24-year-old lefty making his 33rd big-league start will go toe-to-toe with a perpetual all-star and beat him, but that’s what Lester did on Tuesday.

Halladay was great; Lester was a little bit better.

“It seems like the further I get into games, the more comfortable I feel with my stuff and what we’re trying to do,” said Lester. “I just want to go pitch and keep my team in the ballgame and hopefully we win at the end of the day.”

The Red Sox did, and that’s the best news of all.

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